Beijing - A man killed eight people, including his mother, wife and daughter, in Jishui county of Jiangxi province on Saturday, local police said.
The suspect, Zhou Yezhong, 36, allegedly stabbed his three family members, four neighbors and a migrant worker to death in Jishui's Chengyuan village of Badu town at about 6 pm that day, county police said on Sunday.
Police caught Zhou within two hours after the stabbing.
Two of Zhou's victims were men and the rest were women, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Local witnesses reportedly said there were no apparent warning signs before the killings.
Zhou allegedly killed his 10-year-old daughter Zhou Xiaomin at home first, before stabbing his 80-year-old mother despite the woman's pleas for mercy, media reported.
He then broke into a neighbor's home and allegedly killed his wife, 36-year-old Kang Qiuying, their neighbor Hu Dongsheng and Hu's 83-year-old mother, Wu Xiu.
Two other villagers, Ye Wen'e and Zhou Nian Mei, tried running away from the scene of the attack to seek help from the police. But Zhou allegedly stabbed them to death as well. A man, Zuo Huasheng, reportedly became Zhou's eight victim when he ran into the suspect in the street.
Local villagers considered Zhou to be a genial person before the attacks, the village's Party chief, surnamed Gao, told China Daily
Zhou and his wife also have a 5-year-old son. The family's financial status is reportedly not good and Zhou sometimes went to cities to do odd jobs while his wife farmed at home.
"There has never been such a serious case in the village. The villagers are now very nervous," Gao said.
The county police bureau's criminal investigation unit is handling the case, but the motive behind the killing is still unknown, an official with the bureau said on Sunday.
The country has witnessed a number of similar stabbing incidents in recent months.
In the country's latest case on April 29, a 47-year-old jobless man injured 32 people, including children, teachers and security guards in Taixing, Jiangsu province.
